“If Bertok knew of Cerberus’ interest and heard about you being matched,” Zenos mused. “Maybe he killed your mate, so he could sell you to Cerberus. He would have had to use an intermediary. Bertok couldn’t get to Rogue 5. Not only is it impossible to get past our defense system, but Trion is at the far end of the galaxy. Transport only. No ship can make that trip. Means he had to meet Cerberus somewhere in the middle.”
“The dome and Jirghogis,” Isaak said, frowning. “Ulza’s from Cerberus. She was at Omega Dome for business with me. Cerberus must have sent her to escort you back to Rogue 5’s moon base.”
“Still peddling Hive tech?” Ivy asked.
Isaak tipped his head. “Sure am. How’re the parts?”
Zenos growled. “Her parts are fine.”
I frowned, looked at Ivy. She had Hive parts. She’d mentioned that a few minutes ago? Didn’t look like it, unless they made her into a giant. Her eyes looked normal. Maybe she had cyborg hearing or something. Would it be rude to ask?
Yes. Yes, it would be rude.
“So, I got away. Yay!” I said, full of sarcasm and getting back on track. “But they still want me? They came after us. Why me? Can’t Cerberus just get another human somewhere else?”
It made no sense although I was thrilled that I wasn’t Cerberus’ new mate. Based on the way Zenos’ face frowned when he spoke of the guy, I felt like I lucked out.
Zenos nodded. “Yes, their continued pursuit shows you are important.”
“I’m not that exciting.”
The three of them stared at me.
“Fark.” Isaak looked away, thought for a moment. “I’ve been stupid. My ship has stealth technology. Hive tech. Best there is,” Isaak shared. “It can’t be followed.”
Ivy sat back in her chair, crossed her arms then nodded in my direction. “So, if they can’t track your ship, they must have been tracking her.”
I pointed at myself. “Me?”
“There’s no other way they’d have known where we were,” Isaak clarified.
Lifting my hand, I tapped my fingers against my temple. “They gave me an NPU back at the Brides Testing center. You have one,” I said to Ivy. “Could that track me with that?”
She shook her head. “Prillon Prime could do it, track your location I mean, but the tech is tightly controlled. If Cerberus had it, we all would have heard about it by now. At least within Astra legion. He would be wreaking havoc all over the place.”
“She has typical Trion adornments, but I’ve inspected those thoroughly.” Isaak’s words had my cheeks heating. I smacked him on the shoulder. Hard. He looked to me, eyes wide and rubbed his arm as Ivy and Zenos grinned. “What?”
“Are all space men this obtuse?” I asked, looking to Ivy. She might be from Earth, but she’d been in space for a lot longer than I.
Ivy made a sound between a huff and a snort. “Yes. And possessive.”
Isaak held up a hand in surrender. “All I’m saying is, I’ve checked every inch of you. All that’s on you are the Trion adornments and your Earth belly button bar and necklace.”
I frowned, tugged the loose choker Bertok had put up on me from beneath my top. “This? It’s not mine.”
Zenos sat forward so fast I didn’t get a chance to blink before he stared at it. “That’s not from Earth,” he repeated. “That’s from Rogue 5.”
I tried to look down at the necklace, but it only made my eyes hurt. “Rogue 5?”
“Fark,” Isaak hissed. “I thought it was something from Earth, something personal. We need to get that off her. Now.”
Zenos stood, came around the table and batted my hand away. “Allow me, please.”
“I have never seen a necklace like that,” Ivy said. She stood behind her mate, watching.
Zenos’ fingers brushed against my neck and collarbones. “It’s locked.”
“May I try?” Isaak asked.